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Monday’s buzz is brought to you by the Moon in info junkie Gemini as of 7:41AM ET, looking to yak it up with facts and figures. It travels without interference throughout the business day. At 10:31PM, clarity may be challenged by a hit from rose-colored Neptune. Trust, but verify, as it were.

Guess what kind of week this is? A week with no exact aspects among the planets except to the Moon, other than a harmonious flow between the high-flying Sagittarius Sun and innovative technogeek Uranus, exact at earlier today — 1:56AM ET. It’s already behind us. In fact we’ll have to wait until Christmas Eve for any planet to make a major contact with another planet other than the Moon.

You know when the last time this happened? The week of the November 8th election, for which I wrote:

There are no major aspects between planets this week — except to the Moon. I’ve found that these apparent lulls are often deceptive. To me it’s like looking at a giant ice shelf on the most sparkling sunny day ever…and then, for no apparent reason, half the shelf crumbles into the ocean.

Verrrry interesting.

Also interesting: the Full Moon at 22 Gemini opposing the 22 Sagittarius Sun. That happens at 7:05PM ET. Full Moon suggest illumination. You know who has key planets at those degrees? Donald Trump, with his 22 Gemini Sun opposing his opinionated, boundary-pushing, desperately seeking respect Moon at 21 degrees of Sagittarius. Fun fact: we had a Full Moon on this axis the day before Trump’s birthday in 2014 — so that would have been an important time of potential illumination for him personally. Wonder what he had on his calendar?

Gemini refers to a individual’s need to think and communicate. Language is a Gemini thing — the practical mechanics of communication. Sagittarius refers to how we think as a collective — which may be a boundary-pushing opinion. What is our collective philosophy, religion, laws, etc.? A Gemini-Sagittarius Full Moon may be seen as a opposition between how the individual thinks vs. the collective. Which is truly the smartest in the room?

Orwell wrote that freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two equals four. He wrote that he who controls the past controls the future, and that he who controls the present controls the past. If you can colonize the minds of a population with untruths and confusion, you forcibly re-write reality. This is done with stories. It’s done with language. How we speak about the world is a reflection of how we see it.

It is interesting to note two midpoint pictures demanding prominence this week — they are at the Aries Point. One is between disruptive/weird Uranus and nebulous Neptune; the other is between Jupiter (publishing) and Neptune. Both suggest strong prominence of the surreal and faith-based facts, a.k.a. lies.

The Sabian Symbols for this Full Moon are — first, for the 22 Gemini Moon: “three fledglings in a nest high in a tree.” Now remember, this also is the Sabian Symbol for Trump’s 22 Gemini Sun — his life force — what he brings to the table. Sabian Symbol guru Blain Bovee says of this Symbol: “Little birds sing the tune of their family of species. Having voracious appetites, they sing for their supper with competitive insistence: ‘Me first!’…Fledglings are impatient to leave the nest…they’ve yet to stretch their wings in flight in the open air…a bird’s song expresses identity and a kind of bravado: ‘This is who we are, our clan, our family, and we are safe high in our tree!'” Or high in a penthouse in a tall tower.

You can use these Sabian Symbols to gain a deeper perspective on the potential of every planet and angle in your horoscope. They are fascinating.

Speaking of being high in a tall tree, did you know that Hitler’s retreat was called Eagle’s Nest? And that the Third Reich ran on crystal meth? “High Hitler: How Nazi Drug Abuse Fueled the Course of History.“Amazing how these Sabian Symbols crop up. Looking at Hitler’s horoscope, with transiting Uranus hitting his Mercury and his Ascendant next year, we can see the potential for electrifying thought and a fresh start. The horoscope lives forever, doncha know — and if you want to read more, Astrodienst selected my article about this amazing phenomenon as its complimentary offering from The Mountain Astrologer. Here it is — although frankly, if writers and their words have any value to you at all, I believe you should pay for them.

Back to the Symbols for tomorrow’s Full Moon in Gemini, opposed by the Sag Sun.

For the Sagittarius Sun we have: “immigrants entering.” So immediately we see a polarity between fledglings who are not quite ready to leave home (but must, eventually), and the immigrants who have left their homes and just arrived in a whole new world. Bovee suggests we apply these symbols with a mind to “…a passage to a new life, a new level of maturity, the moment before a new independent life takes off…conflicting emotions about what lies just ahead but is still out of reach…songs of home and nationality…trembling in the face of being received.” Bovee has a lot more to say, and if you enjoy the Sabian Symbols, why not buy his book.

How interesting to have these Symbols activated one week before the Electoral College meets to presumably elect our next president. Last month I noted that we could expect a battle. I can’t bring myself to speculate which way it will go right now, but I am convinced that if you believe you have a stake in the outcome, it is useless to act as if you are a spectator in someone else’s drama.

In your own personal world, if you have a planet or angle at 22 Gemini or Sagittarius — and to a lesser extent 22 Virgo or Pisces, you may receive illumination or a release on a “let’s get down to business” new stage in life. As I’ve noted before, many people making headlines now have planets and angles at these degrees — off the top of my head: Trump, President Obama (Virgo Mars), Hillary Clinton (Pisces Moon), Mitt Romney (Pisces Sun), the United States (Mars and Neptune), James Comey (Sun, Pluto), Mike Pence (Gemini Mercury and possibly Gemini Moon), Stephen Bannon (Gemini Jupiter). Everyone noted here will be experiencing the first of three sobering hits from transiting Saturn at 22 Sagittarius, starting in January.

Your Moon voids for the week: Wednesday 12:57AM ET until 7:09AM ET; Thursday 4:37PM ET until 8:15AM ET FRIDAY — so in the Americas it’s mostly a full speed ahead work week, with few voids during business hours that may throw a wrench into your efforts to move forward in a straight line.

HOWEVER…

MERCURY is slowing down, getting ready to turn RETROGRADE at 5:55AM ET on MONDAY 12/19. Now is the time to BACK UP YOUR COMPUTERS. Mercury will be retrograde until January 8th, giving us a chance to review our progress over the past few months.

Now is also the time to get your 2017 Really Useful Mercury Retrograde Survival Guide Bookmark (which includes this upcoming retrograde). They are $3.88 for one and $5.99 for three — cross my palm with silver via my Cosmic Tip Jar and I’ll send them off to you pronto — and I’ll need your snail mail address.

And now, the news.

You may recall my forecast for Friday, posted on Thursday:

Watch the headlines for whatever shocker they are hoping you won’t notice as you’re heading out to do some holiday shopping or join a holiday party on a Friday evening.

The “shocker,” courtesy of the Washington Postlate Friday night — hours before the Sun (leader; life force) and Saturn (heavy; control) met up early Saturday morning — was that:

The CIA has concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win the presidency, rather than just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system, according to officials briefed on the matter.

The article reports that there was a “secret meeting” in September in which these allegations were presented to Democratic and Republican congressional leaders by intelligence officials, asking for a bipartisan agreement, i.e.,

a “show of solidarity and bipartisan unity” against Russian interference in the election, according to a senior administration official.

Specifically, the White House wanted congressional leaders to sign off on a bipartisan statement urging state and local officials to take federal help in protecting their voting-registration and balloting machines from Russian cyber-intrusions.

The article reports that the Democrats were all for it; but:

According to several officials, (Senate Majority Leader Mitch) McConnell raised doubts about the underlying intelligence and made clear to the administration that he would consider any effort by the White House to challenge the Russians publicly an act of partisan politics.

Some of the Republicans in the briefing also seemed opposed to the idea of going public with such explosive allegations in the final stages of an election, a move that they argued would only rattle public confidence and play into Moscow’s hands.

McConnell’s office did not respond to a request for comment. After the election, Trump chose McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, as his nominee for transportation secretary.

Meanwhile, over at the Washington Times, the lead story on the home page quotes Donald Trump denouncing intelligence claims that the Russians hacked the election in his favor as “ridiculous.” Another story on the home page reports that U.S. senators have said America should be “alarmed” by the report, accompanied by a photo of Senator John McCain (R-AZ). Nowhere in the Washington Times will you read a current Washington Post home page story quoting Trump saying that “nobody really knows” if climate change is real. Who are you going to believe? Where do you get your news?

The president of South Korea is going to be impeached. The NYT published a photo essay documenting “57 homicides in 35 days” in the Philippines — casualties of President Rodrigo Duterte’s “antidrug program.” In other words, the United States is not the only country that seems to be going berserk. While the New York Times wondered in a headline posted over the weekend (that I can no longer find), “Why Are So Many Governments Falling Apart” (or something to that effect), Avid Readers of this forecast know that this potential was anticipated years ago, as a reflection of the release of the Never-Ending Uranus-Pluto Square that happened seven times between 2012 and 2015. Such a shame that mainstream media outlets have so little respect for practical insights astrology can provide.

Thank you for reading this forecast. Please support my efforts to keep you informed by gifting yourself with Mercury Rx bookmarks, reports and consultations — details are here. Random acts of kindness are also appreciated, as the Cosmic Tip Jar never closes.